The Social Media Minister

Believe it or not, finding a person who will administer your social media sites as a ministry is not that easy.

Social Media is a relative newcomer to the communication world. As we know it today, social media is less than 20 years old. Facebook began in 2004; YouTube in 2005; Twitter began in 2006 and Instagram in 2010. New platforms continue to emerge. Social media as a ministry is still in its earliest stages.

Today there are parishes, religious communities and organizations using social media. Some have a strong ministry focus and others have a presence that is not so focused. Often these latter are mostly recycling content from more traditional forms of communication (bulletins and newsletters), or linking to other “related” content, but not creating anything that is specific to their social media presence or audience.

The way you use social media is often driven by the person who manages it or by the mandate that is given to them. As my readers know, I am advocating using social media as a tool for ministry.

How Do You Know If Your Social Media Presence is a Ministry?

There are three criteria I want to mention in answering the question of what makes social media a ministry. They have to do with the audience, the content and the platforms. In this blog, I am going to address “audience.”

You know that your social media presence is a ministry if you know and serve your particular audience

Your ministry audience consists of people who want to be or are already are in relationship with you. They follow you on social media because they want to keep abreast of what is going on with you. They follow you because they believe you have content that will enrich their lives and content that they may “like” and share with others.

Your audience is finite. Be true to your values and your mission in light of their needs and desires and you will get the followers that belong there. The number of followers is not as important as having followers who want to know you and your mission better, who want to be connected with you.

If your audience is not growing at all, it could be because there is nothing special about your content, or you post too little or too much or it is not focused on the reason they are there: to be connected with your parish, your community, or your organization. Share your people and share your mission in a friendly and engaging way and your audience will grow.

Finally choose the best platform for the audience you want to serve. To do that you may need to use different platforms for different audiences. More about that in a future post.

Your comments are welcome!

This article is Part 3 of Convincing Your Ministry Leader to Use Social Media